>
> ----- Original Message -----
> Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2000 4:17 PM
> Subject: SN793:An Open Letter To Diana Johnstone
>
>
> > "The light shone by the media is not the regular sweep of the
lighthouse,
> > but a random searchlight directed at the whim of its controllers"
> > Douglas Hurd
> >
> > An Open Letter To Diana Johnstone
> >
> > By Bl. Doncheva,
> > Sofia, Bulgaria
> >
> > Diana Johnstone, a well-known progressive US journalist , has let in the
> > public space three articles on the September-October events in
Yugoslavia,
> > more or less a shocking surprise for me.
> >
> > I would have awarded her writings with the silence they deserve if my
> > mail-box has not been assaulted with them from all quarters of the
world.
> >
> > You see what a harm can be done by a false assessment of events by a
> justly
> > won popularity and authority of an honest journalist in the past. (The
> > question if it is only a "false assessment of events" or ordered "false
> > assessment of events" remains open.)
> >
> > What is wrong with "In a Spin ", the last Diana Johnstone's article I
have
> > received by a Zmag.org readers both from Canada and Holland?
> >
> > The wrong in her article can be roughly devided in three groups.
> >
> > 1/ She thinks the elections in Yugoslavia (September 24) have been
> > "democratic". She insists on it. She repeats that sham several times.
Free
> > expression of free will.
> >
> > The truth is they have been BLATANTLY undemocratic.
> >
> > a) Because of the great sums of money poured into Yugoslavia from the US
> and
> > NATO countries
> > - see Emperors-clothes (or www.tenc.net): there you will find SEVERAL
> > well-grounded articles on that subject, incl. USA Senate Protocol on
some
> of
> > the KNOWN enourmous sums of US money approved by the Senate;
> > - see "New York Times" article by STEVEN ERLANGER, September 20, page
A3,
> > http://www.nytimes.com/partners/screensaver/index.html?eta2
> >
> > b) Because of the direct most ARROGANT interference in the internal
> affairs
> > of a still sovereign country (before October 6 Yugoslavia WAS a
sovereign
> > country!) by way of the
> > - so-called "temporary US Embassy" set in Budapest and the feverish
> > activities of the US Ambassador there;
> > - aborriginal - colonial - comprador - etc., government of Bulgaria, a
> > country fully dependant on USA-NATO ("Bulgaria has lost a 100 % of its
> > sovereignty", B. Dimitrov, a Bulgarian historian and scientist, on one
of
> > the cable TV on Sunday, Oct. 22).
> > Read again Emperors-clothes
> > (www.tenc.net), and also http://www.indymedia.org (There is a SEARCH
> window
> > there. You write Bulgaria and click.)
> > At Emperors-clothes you can find the Memorandum of the Yugoslavian
> > government concerning that flagrant interference and at both sites you
> will
> > find some translatrions from the Bulgaria media announcing how CIA have
> used
> > the Bulgarian territory and some of the Bulgarian US lackeys for their
> > dirty tricks.
> > I ask Ms. Diana Johnstone, Zmag site and D. Johnstone's fans how they
will
> > classify
> > - lecturing "Otpor" activists in Sofia by CIA trainees for a week just
> > before the elections, or
> > - announced attempt at a parallel counting in Bulgaria the votes of an
> > election in another STILL sovereign country?
> >
> > IS IT INTERFERENCE OR NOT?
> >
> > If there is such interference, could elections be democratic?
> >
> > "That is the question." That is why I think there is something rotten in
> D.
> > Johnstone's position re the tragic Yugoslavian September and October
2000.
> >
> > 2/ Ms. D. Johnstone thinks a lot about Mr. Kostunica.
> >
> > He is great. A nationalist. A lover of his country. A justice fighter.
He
> > has saved Mr. Milosevic and his family from lynching. A valorous person.
A
> > paradigm of perfection.
> > I.e., Ms. D. Johnstone is diligently building a myth around Kostunica,
> > telling fairy-stories and obstinately going round the facts.
> >
> > And the facts are both simple and sad.
> >
> > a/ Kostunica is a leader of an obscure insignificant party.
> > I.e., he would have NEVER been pushed ahead as a presidential candidate
if
> > that had not been the decision of the newly founded DOS - and those
> > monitoring it.
> > Everybody of the reading public knows how DOS has appeared at the
> political
> > scene in Yugoslavia and the Balkans.
> > Everybody knows that it has happened under the prescription and pressure
> of
> > the USA-CIA and German agents cradling the so-called "opposition" in
> > Yugoslavia for months, not to say for years on a run.
> > Everybody from the region at least knows which party and which leader
has
> > the last say in that coalition of parties.
> > For Ms. Johnstone and the others who do not know, the answers are:
> DJINDJIC'
> > s party. DJINDJIC.
> > She herself has given a characteristic of DJINDJIC.
> >
> > Logical Conclusion:
> >
> > Kostunica is a Nobody.
> > He is only a pitiable Puppet On a String.
> > DJINDJIC's man - i.e., USA-Germany-NATO's man.
> > He has been intensely used to lure the Yugoslavians into the deadly trap
> of
> > MacDeath AllDark and Company. The Globalisers.
> >
> > b/ Ms. Johnstone's Kostunica myth is instilling into her readers totally
> > wrong impression of her favourite's character and moral.
> >
> > In that connection I have the following questions to Ms. Johnstone and
her
> > fans:
> >
> > If Kostunica is an intelligent person, wouldn't he FIRST read the DOS
> > program?
> >
> > Is it possible to admit that he has accepted to run for a presidential
> > candidate of a coalition WITHOUT even having read FIRST its program?!?
> > If he has read it but has not undersood the economical part being
ignorant
> > about the ways of IMF and WB, NWO (Globalisation) etc., wouldn't he ask
> > independent specialists for clarifying the dark points?
> > But if he is so ignorant about the malignant cancer wolfing the world
for
> > years on a run, could he be accepted as so very intelligent?
> > Or, if we agree that he IS brilliant, then won't we be right to doubt
his
> > moral?
> > How could a patriot - a nationalist, as the rumour is - stand behind
such
> a
> > program as the one of G-17, DOS economists and IMF and WB experts?
> > A program that will strip Yugoslavia from even the pale remnants of a
> > sovereignity in no time!....
> > A program that will kill his people, force them on their knees, steal
> their
> > hopes!
> > A program that will kill his country!...
> > And here is another equally painful and tragic question:
> > How could a patriot stand behind the future canonization -
> disintegration -
> > of his country?
> >
> > How could a patriot be for the murdering of his people and country both
in
> > economical and political sense?!!!?...
> >
> > c/ According to Ms. Johnstone the FASCIST POGROMS on October 5-6 in
> Belgrade
> > had been carried out without Mr. Kostunica knowledge and approval - of
> > course. It seems Mr. Kostunica has lived 2-3 days on a run in a blissful
> > ignorance of what is going on in the Belgrade streets and the Skupstina!
> > (Notwithstanding the relish with which all the Conquerors' TV programs
> have
> > kept unrolling again and again pictures of the CIA orchestrated
VANDALISM!
> > He has not an access to a TV set - maybe.)
> > Surely he had not known anything about the simultaneous attacks against
> SPS
> > offices in Belgrade and all over the country, or the FASCIST violence
> > against SPS members.
> >
> > Let's agree with Ms. Johnstone that he did not know.
> >
> > Later he has learned and stopped them - how exactly? Ms. Johstone says
> just
> > that - he has stopped them and valourously saved Mr. Milosevic's life.
He
> > has not allowed the Chaushesku scenario to be repeated.
> > But what has he done practically? Has he gone out to talk with that
> FASCIST
> > Mayor of Cacak? Has he sent other thugs to stop the first ones? Has he
> such
> > "good" thugs at his disposal to send them against the "bad" ones?
> > Could an ABJECT puppet on strings interfere at critical moments?
> > Is it really possible for Kostunica to exercise such power?
> > Or the FASCISTS have stopped simply because the Monitoring Center has
> > ordered them to stop?
> > Or Mr. Milosevic and his family have not been lynched only because the
> > Monitoring Center has decided not to go to such extremities just now?
> > Mr. Muilosevic's lynching - and eventually of his family together with
all
> > his baby-grandchildren - might have been postponed for a later date -
for
> > another CNN bloody spin (surely while beloved Kostunica is peacefully
> > sleeping with his cats...)
> >
> > 3/ Serb Voters' justification.
> >
> > Ms. Johnstone's insistent paper wall building between Kostunica and
> > DJINDJIC, her fairy-story about Kostunica's "independence" from both
> German
> > and USA main man, DJINDJIC, is truly exasperating, mildly said.
> >
> > But what is unbearable - for me - is her justification of the Serbian
> > voters.
> > At least I accept the final part of her article as such justification.
> >
> > In contrast to her I do not think there is a justification for a
betrayal
> of
> > a country and a people.
> >
> > Nothing can justify your Mother and Father trading for a PROVEN lie -
for
> an
> > illusion!
> >
> > What can justify the trading of the children of a people for some
seconds
> on
> > the TV and shoulder-pattings from a World Murderess?
> >
> > An honest and responsible journalist would have had the will and time to
> add
> > and underline that for the past eleven years Bulgarians have known
depths
> of
> > misery and suffering still unknown for the poor Serb voters!
> > Without being bombed.
> > Without being sanctioned.
> > Without being isolated internationally or banned from travelling in the
> > sense the Serbs had been.
> > Just because Bulgarian DJINDJIC-Kostunica-Drashkovic-Shesheli etc., have
> > served us, Bulgarians, with a curtsey to IMF, WB, USA-NATO, EU!
> >
> > What poverty is Ms. Johnstone writing about?
> >
> > What does she know about poverty?
> >
> > Could she imagine the extent of poverty that turns a human being first
> into
> > a helpless stray hungry dog - then into a bewildered hungry cockroach -
> then
> > into a rotting piece of vegetable in a dump container?!?...
> >
> > The Serb voters, Ms. Johnstone, know NOTHING about poverty...
> > They have had and enjoyed their SOCIAL, HEALTH, EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
> > untouched and functioning for WHOLE ELEVEN YEARS MORE than us, the
> > Bulgarians.
> >
> > Soon those most IGNORANT and CRIMINALLY IRRESPONSIBLE boys and girls
from
> > CIA "Otpor" will have to pay for their education.
> >
> > Soon many of the Institutes and Universities, opened for them now, will
be
> > closed for good.
> >
> > Soon all the Serb Voters will have to pay unbearable sums for what has
> been
> > free of charge till now...
> >
> > Many of the hospitals now will be closed.
> > Villages will be left without doctors and medicine.
> >
> > Soon only those with money will be able to go to a doctor or a
dentist...
> >
> > Soon only those with money will be operated in the hospitals that will
be
> > left to function.
> >
> > HOW MANY WILL HAVE THE MONEY?
> >
> > That is what CIA "Otpor" and the other IGNORANT AND IRRESPONSIBLE young
> > people have jumped for in the Belgrade streets after September 24.
> >
> > The Serb Voters had their factories and plants - their industry -
> untouched
> > and functioning. They could work and live on their wages notwithstanding
> how
> > small they were.
> >
> > Soon they will have NO industry - so NO wages. In exchange they will
> receive
> > the NWO right to dig into the dump containers for a mouldy piece of
bread!
> >
> > The minors who went on a strike in suport of the New World Order Reign
in
> > Yugoslavia will have no work at which to strike anymore. The mines will
be
> > closed and their 80 dollars per month now will disappear as a smoke...
> > Some of them will turn into dump-containers' diggers.
> > Others will blow themselves to pieces, kicked into a trap without any
way
> > out. (That is just what some Bulgarian minors did.)
> > Some will choose simpler means - a rope, a knife, a jump from a high
> storey
> > or a rock...
> >
> > Serb Voters will NEVER be "normal Europeans again". The USA and Western
> > Monsters they have sold themselves to have not planned that for them.
They
> > want the riches of their country - they are interested solely in that
and
> > the full conquest of the Balkans as a starting step for new crusades!
> >
> > THEY WANT THE RICHES OF YUGOSLAVIA AND ITS TERRITORY, NOT THE
POPULATION.
> >
> > For them every population in every conquered country is only a nuisance:
> > less people - less problems.
> >
> > Now the Serbs themselves - the Serb Voters to an extent - have given the
> > World Vultures the possibility to lecture them on
> >
> > GENOSIDE - WHAT IS THIS?
> >
> > When the Serb Voters begin to really worry about what so many people all
> > round the world have kept writing and warning - warning and writing - it
> > will be too late!...
> >
> > Serbs problems till September 24 - October 5-6 were minor problems in
> > comparison with what is in store for them - in comparison with what
> DJINDJIC
> > ' Masters will get out of their pockets for the Heroic Serb Voters
indeed!
> >
> > How could minor problems be solved by changing them with a bunch of very
> > grave - of really deadly problems - I cannot understand. It is not a
> > solution.
> > It is a death sentence!
> >
> > I have not a word of justification for the Serb Voters and all those who
> > have taken part in the FASCIST Pogroms and CIA coup in Belgrade.
> >
> > They have welcome IMF and WB DOS leaders like DJINDJIC and DOS experts
> (see
> > www.tenc.net) -
> >
> > AFTER SEATTLE, NOVEMBER 30, 1999;
> > AFTER DAVOS, JANUARY 2000;
> > AFTER WASHINGTON, APRIL 16;
> > AFTER MELBOURNE, SEPTEMBER 11;
> > After Prague, September 26!!!
> >
> > How could WILFUL IGNORANCE be justified?
> >
> > They have betrayed not only themselves and their people and country.
> > They have betrayed my country too.
> > They have betrayed the Balkans. The World.
> >
> > Now really courageous people will fall bloody victims to what their
> > IGNORANCE and IRRESPONSIBILITY has made possible - and not only in
> > Yuigoslavia...
> >
> > Remember Guatemala. El Salvador. Chili. Colombia. Bolivia...
> >
> > And pray.
> >
> > Bl. Doncheva
> > Sofia, Bulgaria
> > October, 2000
> >
> > "How fortunate for governments (CIA, USA-NATO) that the people (some
Serb
> > voters, CIA Otpor, Cacak thugs) they administer don't think." Adolph
> Hitler
> >
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> > ------------------
> >
> >
> > http://www.zmag.org/johnstonem.htm
> > 11 octobre 2000
> > IN A SPIN
> >
> > by Diana Johnstone
> >
> > The "October surprise" that brought a change of power in Belgrade was
> > actually two events, one superimposed on the other. One was a democratic
> > election, made in Serbia. The other was a totally undemocratic putsch,
> made
> > in the "international community", otherwise known as NATOland.
> > The democratic election would have been sufficient to oblige Slobodan
> > Milosevic to retire as Yugoslav President. The majority of Yugoslav
voters
> > had long wished a change in leadership, and Vojislav Kostunica emerged
as
> an
> > acceptable alternative.
> > But the NATO-backed putschists wanted more. They wanted two things that
> the
> > legal elections could not provide: a dramatic media spectacle that would
> fit
> > the Western "spin", and a seizure of power beyond the limited powers of
> the
> > Yugoslav presidency.
> > The Democratic Election
> > The Yugoslav elections were called by Milosevic himself. Having been
> elected
> > President of Serbia in the country's first multi-party elections in
1990,
> > the "dictator" had followed the constitutional rules and left the
Serbian
> > presidency at the end of his second term, whereupon he was elected by
the
> > Yugoslav parliament to the mainly symbolic office of Yugoslav president.
> > Having sponsored a constitutional change which would allow him to be
> > re-elected, but by universal suffrage, he went on to call early
elections,
> > months before his term was to run out in mid-2001.
> > Milosevic was lured into this move by advisors pointing to deceptive
> public
> > opinion polls indicating that he could win by a margin of 150,000 votes
in
> > the autumn, before winter hardships turned voters against him. This is
> > similar to the "joke" played on French president Jacques Chirac, who
> called
> > the early elections that brought his left opposition headed by Lionel
> Jospin
> > into office. In Paris, it is even rumored that it was a French advisor
who
> > urged Milosevic to make this fatal error.
> > In short, Milosevic was not a "dictator" but a calculating politician
> trying
> > to stay in office in a multi-party electoral system he had largely
> > introduced. Aware that his popularity ratings had long been in decline,
he
> > counted on several factors to help him get the necessary 50% of the vote
> to
> > be re-elected President of Yugoslavia. These were
> > · the chronic squabbling of the so-called "democratic" (meaning
bourgeois,
> > as the Swedes call the center right) opposition and the public rejection
> of
> > its main leaders (especially Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic);
> > · the fact that Montenegrin president Milo Djukanovic was sure to call
for
> a
> > boycott of the elections as part of his secession strategy, which would
> > leave only pro-Milosevic voters willing to go to improvised polling
> > stations;
> > · the prospect of a couple of hundred thousand solid votes from Kosovo
> > constituencies (where ethnic Albanians would, as usual, boycott the
> > election) and from the armed forces.
> > Aware of its weakness, the opposition which had first loudly demanded
> early
> > elections then threatened to boycott them, claiming that they would be
> > rigged by Milosevic. The NATOland chorus joined in, proclaiming that
> > Yugoslav elections would not be "fair and free" and that Milosevic was
> > certain to cheat.
> > In fact, thanks to a normal democratic system of multi-party supervisors
> at
> > polling stations, cheating in Yugoslav elections was nearly impossible
in
> > Serbia proper, except perhaps for the hundred thousand or so soldiers
who
> > vote in barracks. Kosovo and Montenegro offered limited opportunities
for
> > cheating only because of the obstructionism of the separatists. In the
> end,
> > Milosevic was a whopping 700,000 votes short. Official results gave
> > Kostunica over 48% of the vote in a five-man race. This fell slightly
> short
> > of the 50% required to win, but indicated an almost certain landslide in
> the
> > runoff against Milosevic, who trailed by some ten percentage points.
> > (Yugoslav electoral law calls for a second round if no candidate wins an
> > absolute majority in the first round.)
> > Here is where both sides contributed to a confusion that gave an
> opportunity
> > to the putschists to move to steal the election. Apparently in a state
of
> > shock, the government announced the results slowly and without complete
> > details. The "Democratic Opposition in Serbia" (DOS) backing Kostunica
> > demanded recognition of a claimed first round victory and announced it
> would
> > boycott the second round. This raised the danger of a second round that
> > Milosevic could win by default. The prospect of two winners -- one in
the
> > first round, the other in the second -- would have created a dangerous
> civil
> > war situation, favorable to NATO intervention. Kostunica's backers
argued
> > that since Milosevic had cheated in the first round, he would cheat even
> > more in the second -- this was not plausible, but widely believed
anyway,
> as
> > the demonization of the former leader and future scapegoat picked up
> > momentum.
> > The DOS thereby moved the contest from the ballot box into the streets,
> > where "the people" would demand recognition of Kostunica's election.
This
> > prepared the way for power -- and property -- to change hands amid
> confusion
> > and violence.
> > Neither the police nor the Army was willing to support Milosevic against
a
> > patriotic Serb like Kostunica who had won popular support in a legal
> > election. Their neutrality seems to have been ensured by the influence
of
> > two key figures dismissed by Milosevic two years ago, former security
> chief
> > Jovica Stanisic and former army chief of staff Momcilo Perisic, who
> retained
> > friends and influence in the police and the armed forces respectively.
The
> > rallying of other figures who had been part of the Milosevic power
> structure
> > was hastened by Kostunica's reiterated assurances that there would be no
> > vengeance. Former Milosevic followers began flocking to the side of
> > Kostunica seeking protection from his short-run supporter and long-term
> > rival, Zoran Djindjic, well known as Germany's man in Serbia. Thus
> Kostunica
> > gained the Yugoslav presidency both because he was _not_ Milosevic and
> > because he was _not_ Djindjic. But Djindjic has been strikingly active
in
> > grabbing the substance of victory away from the successful DOS
candidate.
> > The Media Spectacle
> > It is arguable that Kostunica -- considered the most honest of political
> > leaders -- could have won the presidential election just as easily (more
> > easily, some supporters claim) if the United States and its NATO allies
> had
> > refrained from pumping millions of dollars and deutschmarks into the
> country
> > to support what they called "the democratic opposition". But it is far
> less
> > likely that without all that excess cash, we would have been treated to
> the
> > spectacle of the October 5th "democratic revolution", when a large crowd
> > stormed the venerable Skupstina, the parliament building in the center
of
> > Belgrade. That event, presented to the world public as the most
> spontaneous
> > act of self-liberation, was probably the single most planned act of all.
> It
> > was staged for the TV cameras which filmed and relayed the same scenes
> over
> > and over again: youths breaking through windows, flags waving, flames
> > rising, smoke enveloping what some newspapers described as "the symbol
of
> > the Milosevic regime".
> > This was utter nonsense. It was like calling Big Ben the "symbol of the
> > Blair regime" or the Capitol the "symbol of the Clinton regime". But the
> > Western spinners needed symbols and drama for the latest episode in the
> hit
> > TV fiction series of the 1990s starring the "genocidal dictator",
Slobodan
> > Milosevic. It wouldn't do for "Europe's last communist dictator" simply
to
> > lose a democratic election. Something more exalted was needed. So there
> was
> > an attempt to revive a hit drama of a decade earlier, the "fall of
> > Ceaucescu", which was also contrived and staged. If Milosevic and his
wife
> > met the same bloody fate as the Rumanian ruling couple, that would be
> > "proof" enough for the media that they were equivalent to the dictator
> > couple of Bucharest.
> > But they weren't and fortunately it didn't happen quite like that. In
> > Belgrade there was no equivalent of the Securitate (Rumanian secret
> police)
> > to stage the drama. There was only a gang of toughs bussed in from
Cacak,
> as
> > the town's mayor later boasted to Western media, who led the mob up the
> > Skupstina steps and easily broke into the scarcely guarded building,
which
> > was systematically vandalized and set on fire, causing considerable
damage
> > to public property. The liberators then went on to smash shop windows
and
> > steal property in nearby shopping streets. This failed to provoke the
> > bloodshed that would have improved the TV show, but the vandals did
their
> > best.
> > The fiercely anti-communist mayor of Cacak, Velimir Ilic, told the
French
> > news agency AFP that his armed "commando" of 2,000 men had set out quite
> > deliberately on October 5 to "take control of the key institutions of
the
> > regime, including the parliament and the television".
> > "Our action had been prepared in advance. Among my men were ex-parachute
> > troops, former army and police officers as well as men who had fought in
> > special forces," he told AFP. "A number of us wore bullet-proof vests
and
> > carried weapons", he added proudly. Ilic said contact was maintained
> > throughout the action with high police and Interior Ministry officials,
> but
> > that president-elect Kostunica was unaware of what was going on. "We
were
> > afraid he'd be opposed", said Ilic. And indeed, when he got word of what
> was
> > going on, Kostunica by all accounts prevented the commandos from hunting
> > down Milosevic and giving their spectacle a bloody finale.
> > Some of these former "special forces" commandos included veterans of the
> > civil wars in Croatia and Bosnia. The peak of irony lies in the fact
that
> > such paramilitaries, primarily responsible for giving the Serbian people
> the
> > (unjustified) reputation of "ethnic cleansers" and war criminals, were
> > instantly promoted by Western media into heroes of an inspiring
> "democratic
> > revolution". But there is a consistency about it: the same tiny group of
> men
> > are able to perform for world media as an exaggerated caricature of "the
> > Serbs", first as villains, later as heroes.
> > The ordinary citizens of Belgrade deplored the violence of October 5th,
as
> > they had deplored the violence of the civil wars. And the large crowds
who
> > gathered in Belgrade squares to support their candidate, Kostunica, were
> > blissfully unaware of how they were being used as extras in an
> international
> > TV production.
> > Violence Versus Votes
> > The law-abiding citizens of Belgrade were also unaware of how the
euphoria
> > in the streets would provide cover for an ongoing campaign of violence
and
> > intimidation aimed at changing the whole power structure in Serbia,
> outside
> > of any democratic or legal process. The Skupstina that was targeted for
> > vandalism was not "the symbol of Milosevic's regime" but a parliament
> where
> > the Socialist Party and its allies still had a duly elected majority.
The
> > "democratic revolution" in the streets did not attack a Bastille prison
to
> > liberate dissenters, but the seat of the democratically elected
> > representatives of the people. The mob ransacked and set fire to the
> federal
> > Electoral Commission offices inside the Skupstina, reportedly setting
fire
> > to ballots collected there, making it highly unlikely that the disputed
> > first round score will ever be satisfactorily clarified.
> > The spectacle enabled the managers of street violence to claim the
> > "democratic revolution" as their own, openly attempting to relegate
> > Kostunica to a figurehead role.
> > Since then, throughout the country, Socialist Party headquarters have
been
> > assaulted and demolished, officials have been beaten and expelled from
> their
> > functions by gangs of "democrats". The most lucrative enterprises have
> been
> > seized. Strange parallel governments called "crisis headquarters" have
> been
> > set up without any democratic mandate to redistribute property and
> offices.
> > The "revolutionaries" can be sure the NATO benefactors of Serbian
> democracy
> > will not ask for their money back so long as they target the left, which
> is
> > identified only as "the Milosevic regime". The clear lesson: "democracy"
> is
> > not defined by elections, but by NATO approval. Methods don't matter.
The
> > end justifies the means.
> > Franco-German Rivalries
> > All through the Yugoslav drama of the past decade, not to mention for
well
> > over a century, internal conflicts have reflected external great power
> > rivalries. This is still going on.
> > Among these rival powers, Russia scarcely counts any more. The Russians
> have
> > more to lose from the Western absorption of Serbia than the Serbs have
to
> > gain from the Russians, who have been too weak to do anything to stop
the
> > steady erosion of their influence in the Balkans. As one observer put
it,
> > "the Serbs have the impression that the Russians only want to share
their
> > poverty, while the Serbs would rather share American wealth".
> > The rival powers are now all Western. A few years ago, Paris tried to
> > support Vuk Draskovic against both Milosevic on the one hand and the
> German
> > party (represented by Djindjic) on the other, but Draskovic proved too
> > unreliable. Today, the implicit rivalry is between Kostunica, supported
by
> > France, and Djindjic, supported by Germany.
> > This division is a matter of political principle as well as personality,
> and
> > relates to conflicting French and German views of the future of Europe.
> > Kostunica, as is constantly repeated is a "nationalist" or, we could
say,
> a
> > patriot, who wants to preserve his nation-state, by giving it a new,
> modern
> > democratic constitution. As a scholar of American federalism, he would
> base
> > a political order for the future Yugoslavia on the American 18th century
> > model.
> > For Djindjic, this is old-fashioned nonsense, good only for a
transitional
> > moment toward the dissolution of all the Balkan nations into a modern
> > European Union where politics will take a backseat to business.
Djindjic,
> > who studied in Germany, believes in "civil society" where the private
> sphere
> > outweighs the "res publica", and public political life is reduced to
> > imagery. Business versus politics could sum up the conflict between
these
> > two.
> > Kostunica plans to stay in office for only a year, just the time to
> complete
> > his constitutional reform. Thereupon Djindjic, who could never have won
> this
> > election, openly hopes to take over.
> > The Economy, Stupid
> > For many years, the alternate currency in Serbia has been the
Deutschmark,
> > traded on every street corner by men murmuring "devize, devize". During
> the
> > weeks leading up to the fall of Milosevic, so many D-marks have flooded
> into
> > the country that the precious currency recently lost half its value.
> > Everyone believes that most of this money flows in through Djindjic. It
> > seems to have been spent less on the election (Yugoslav election
campaigns
> > are not the expensive affairs run in the United States) than on
preparing
> > aspects of "the putsch" that followed: the forceful takeover of media by
> > "independent" (i.e., NATO-approved) journalists, of key businesses and
> > official positions which has been going on since the October 5 arson of
> the
> > Skupstina.
> > The European Union has moved quickly to lift some economic sanctions
> against
> > Serbia and Madeleine Albright has also proclaimed the need to give the
> > Serbian people "some dividends out of democracy" and to help President
> > Kostunica. "We want to support him, we want to get assistance to him.
I've
> > been talking to our European partners. We will be lifting certain
economic
> > sanctions to make sure that the people can recover and the Danube is
> > cleared," she declared.
> > Here the key word is "Danube". NATO bombing destroyed Serb bridges and
> > blocked the Danube to European shipping, much of it German. The priority
> for
> > Germany is to reopen the Danube, and it is for this purpose that
important
> > funds will be provided. To be precise, funds will be "lent":
> > Western generosity will take its usual form of the "debt trap", and
> Yugoslav
> > public services will have to be cut back for years to come in order to
> repay
> > the Western powers for rebuilding the transportation structure they
> > themselves destroyed. The reconstructed transportation structure will be
> > used to ship other people's commercial goods through the country to
other
> > people's markets. The "democratic dividend" will mainly benefit German
> > business.
> > But for the moment, the Serbian voters do not want to worry about that.
> They
> > have been bombed, isolated, sanctioned, banned from traveling to other
> > countries, reduced to poverty and treated as pariahs. Their main "crime"
> was
> > to have wanted to preserve multiethnic Yugoslavia and to have been
> reluctant
> > to give up all the benefits of self-management socialism in favor of the
> > "shock treatment" impoverishing people in Russia and neighboring
Bulgaria.
> > Since Yugoslavia was not part of the Soviet bloc, its people were slow
to
> > realize that the defeat of the Soviet bloc meant that they too had to
bow
> to
> > the dictates of the West. Now they can dream of being "normal" Europeans
> > again. For a relatively small minority, the dream of prosperity will no
> > doubt come true. For others, there will be some unpleasant surprises.
But
> > that doesn't matter now.
> > "People in Serbia are not looking for the truth", observed Serbian
writer
> > Milan Ratkovic, who lives in Paris. "They are looking for comforting
> lies."
> > >From being portrayed as monsters, the Serbs are suddenly being
celebrated
> by
> > Western media as heroes. They can turn on Western TV and see heroic
images
> > of themselves. "Look," says Ratkovic, "we held out longer than anybody
> else
> > in Eastern Europe. Against us, the West had to use all its weapons and
all
> > its tricks." Sometimes the only way to solve a problem is to change
> > problems.
> >
> >
> > Miroslav Antic,
> > http://www.antic.org/SNN/
> >
>
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